Envestnet Asset Management Inc. Sells 6,164 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Envestnet Asset Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 272,749 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 6,164 shares during the quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $163,652,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. LRI Investments LLC boosted its holdings in MSCI by 120.0% in the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 122.7% during the 4th quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 98 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA boosted its position in MSCI by 46.8% during the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 113 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI opened at $507.57 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $572.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $588.66. The company has a market cap of $39.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.10, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.68 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $647.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About MSCI

MSCI Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides critical decision support tools and solutions for the investment community to manage investment processes worldwide. The Index segment provides indexes for use in various areas of the investment process, including indexed financial product, such as ETFs, mutual funds, annuities, futures, options, structured products, and over-the-counter derivatives; performance benchmarking; portfolio construction and rebalancing; and asset allocation, as well as licenses GICS and GICS Direct.